Guts & Glory: The American Revolution by Ben Thompson

Guts & Glory: The American Revolution was written by Ben Thompson. I picked up the Audible edition of this book (as well as the others in the series) during a sale, and my girls and I listened to it while we were driving around during all of our after-school activities.

This book is a wonderful introduction to the foundations of American history. Thompson uses a jocular storytelling format to convey information, and I found myself enjoying listening to this book as much as the kids. Much of the story is slightly irreverent, which naturally appeals to children. He uses modern pop culture examples to draw comparisons with events from the Revolution, like comparing Bunker Hill to an epic battle from Lord of the Rings or saying that he has to pay tax “every time he buy[s] a new Xbox game or a Big Mac”. Understanding history is so important, and I have a great deal of appreciation for Thompson’s ability to make learning about history appealing.

Both my twins and my older girl studied Colonial history during their last school year, so much of what was discussed in this book was already familiar to them. They are also big fans of Hamilton, and one of my twins would get very excited every time the book mentioned someone she knew, like the Marquis de Lafayette.

We don’t have a physical copy of this book, but I don’t think that was a disadvantage; it actually worked out quite well as an audiobook because of the fun/cool format. We did have access to a pdf with the illustrations, but we never went back to look at the pictures that we were missing.

I would absolutely recommend Guts & Glory: The American Revolution. One of my college majors was history, but I focused on medieval and Renaissance history. I haven’t studied American history since high school, and I can honestly admit that there were a few things that I learned by listening to this book. We picked up the other Guts & Glory books at the same sale, and we are definitely looking forward to listening to them in the future!